“I am Beautiful, I am Me” week 2 at bassgiraffe’s Thoughts

This week I’m going to address two issues with self image and how others view us. I hope I can write this exactly how I feel and have been thinking about this past week. I’m very passionate about how I feel about today’s post.

We all see things differently. We all have our version of beauty. However that doesn’t mean something or someone isn’t beautiful. I believe we were all created beautiful by God. And I believe He made us see each thing differently from how others see them.

Take this dandelion for example. I see a terrible, ugly and annoy weed that messes up my garden and yard. My children see it as a beautiful flower. They pick bouquets of them all summer long to give to me to say “I love you”.

Eventually that weed/flower turns in to seeds, that I dread blowing all over my lawn. My kids see it as a “wish”, they blow on them, watch the puffs dance in the wind and make a wish.

One object, two different views. I believe we do the same thing to ourselves. We look in the mirror and see a weed, an ugly useless weed, something that no one should have to look at. But others look at us and see a beautiful and wonderful flower. They see something to be treasures and admired. Think of a dandelion the next time you look at yourself in the mirror. Say to yourself that your a beautiful flower, full of hopes and dreams.

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This next section is all about how we treat each other. We need to be kinder to each other. We need to teach our children how to be kind to each other. Stop bullying.

This is Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony. She is my facebook profile for the next few days. I am keeping her there to remember to pray for an 11 year old boy who is holding on for his life after trying to hang himself. Michael, loves My Little Pony, Pinkie Pie is his favorite, he can relate to her. Kids at school picked on him, made fun of him for liking MLP. He couldn’t stand the teasing anymore and he tried taking his life.

My heart is broken for this little boy and his family. NO ONE should ever be made fun of and no one should ever make fun of someone for a show they watch. When I was a kid my brother would watch MLP and play with my toys with me. As well I would watch He-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and play with his toys with him. It wasn’t a big deal, we both had fun. In fact as a kid I really didn’t think I was playing with toys for boys or that my brother was playing with toys for girls. We were just playing and getting along. I can’t believe kids would stoop so low and tease someone over something so trivial. Kids should be allowed to enjoy any kid’s TV show they want without having to be told they shouldn’t watch it because it’s a “girl’s”, “boy’s”, “baby”… show. Please teach your kids to love, not hate. Kids aren’t born knowing how to hate, adults/parents do it in front of them and they think it’s ok.

Let’s talk about the Biggest Loser. The winner of this season has been given a TON of backlash for the amount of weight she has lost. I’m sure we’ve sat in front of our kids talked about her. “She looks like a skeleton”, “She face looks like an alien”, “Her hair is bigger then her”… These are just a few comments I’ve seen online about the recent winner. I feel sad for her. She’s coming off a huge win and all her hard work, to people hating her. I worry those mean words would stick in her mind.Just because you believe something is true does not mean you need to say it. Think, is what I’m about to say going to help the person or hurt them? Most words said since Tuesday are not to help but hurt.
I know when I was younger and people would say mean things to me that they stuck in my mind. “You look like a clown”, “you’re the jolly green giant”, “your teeth are fugly”… I know those things aren’t true but there are days when I look in the mirror and that’s all I see, all I can hear.
Please watch how you talk about each other, be kind. Just because it’s something you want to say, doesn’t mean you need to say it.

I also want to address these other phrases I’ve heard online about the winner of TBL. “She’s too thin”, “She isn’t healthy”. Those things might be true, but what are we teaching our kids by using those words in front of them? Or how about when we see someone on TV or in the store and we say things like, “she’s really fat.”, “did you look at what she is wearing? what was she thinking?”, “did she put on her make-up in the dark?”… I’ve heard many of those and I’m guilty of saying some of those. We are first teaching our kids it’s ok to say mean things about each other, to bully each other. We are also giving our children the idea of needing to look “perfect” in the world’s eyes. I think to those mean things and worry that my daughters will look in the mirror and think, “Do I look fat?”, “Is my make-up off?”, “do these clothes look ok?”. never really feeling good about what they see. They won’t feel secure about themselves and it’s all because I stood there making fun of some stranger.

So please be KIND to yourself and PLEASE be kind to others. It’s the only way we can all survive in this cruel world.